The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 30, 2007
Filed:
Mar. 01, 2005
Richard Hirst, Norwich, GB;
Richard Evans, Fresno, CA (US);
Matthew Scott Howarth, Clovis, CA (US);
Sinclair Systems International, LLC, Fresno, CA (US);
Abstract
An apparatus and method are provided for automatically labeling individual produce items. Individual produce items are conveyed towards a rotary bellows or other applicator. A sensor senses at least one variable characteristic, such as size of each of the produce items. The sensed variable is transmitted to a laser coding device and a variable human or machine readable code is printed on an individual label prior to application of that label to the specific item of produce for which the variable characteristic was sensed. The laser coding beam either reacts with a reactive or ablatable film on each label.